Harvard Still Mulling Lawsuit

Three weeks after Harvard threatened to sue the city over a new zoning ordinance that limits its ability to develop the former Gulf station site on Mass. Ave., the University still has not decided whether to take legal action.

However, University planning officials said that while the new zoning severely limited the size of new construction on the lot, it does not alter the types of structures that Harvard can build. The new zoning allows for a building 45 feet high with a total floor area of 52,500 square feet.

Although the University initially planned to build a hotel on the Gulf site, President Derek C. Bok this spring announced that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) would be allowed to develop the land for academic purposes. FAS has not announced a plan for the land, but possible alternatives include a library, an office building or a hotel that could be converted for academic use.

"All of those things are feasible at 52,000 plus square feet," said Director of Planning Kathy Spiegelman. "It's just that the 30,000 square feet of program space will have to be filled somewhere else."

The zoning ordinance, which was presented to the City Council in the form of a petition signed by neighborhood residents, was passed on June 5, despite Harvard's objections. At that time, attorneys for the University sent a letter to the city indicating that Harvard would take legal action if the site were rezoned.

The letter said that the new limits were unfairly designed to affect only the Gulf site property.

But while the new changes will probably not seriously affect Harvard's plans for the site, Spiegelman said that the University may still decide the matter is important enough to warrant litigation.

"The issue of spot zoning is not really one of saying 'now you've made it impossible for us to do anything,'" Spiegelman said. "It's more a question of whether this is a fair process."

City officials said they would not be surprised if Harvard decided to take the matter to court.

"I suspect they will do it, but I haven't received any notification yet," said City Solicitor Russell B. Higley.

The Gulf station site is one of the last pieces of undeveloped land near the Square, and University officials actively campaigned against the new limits on it. In May, President Derek C. Bok made the unusual move of contacting two city Councillors who previously favored new development and asking them to delay the vote.

One of the two, City Councillor Sheila T. Russell, said she believed that Harvard might still take action against the city, but that the protests from community residents had convinced her to vote for the change.

"I almost voted the other way but then I said, 'Enough's enough. We've got to stop this a little bit at the edge of the Square,'" said Russell.